Taking God at His Word by Kevin DeYoung

Wonderful book on the importance and value of Scripture! Starting out with Psalm 119 – a love poem on the vast beauty and delight of Scripture – the author takes us through why the Bible is important and valuable for us. It is sufficient – containing all we need for faith and living. It is necessary – the only way to a relationship with God is described in its pages. It is final – there is no more revelation from God, Scripture is complete. It is understandable – everything that is needed to believe in God and have faith in Christ is able to be understood.A very easy read, this book is also encouraging for us as Christians who love the Bible to see why it is important for us to value it. Without getting into the nitty-gritty arguments for the reliability of Scripture, it gives the Christian reassurance that this is God’s Word to us and necessary for our daily living in this world. As biblical illiteracy seems to be rampant in America, this book is a call to go back to God’s Word and read it, to learn, understand and follow its instructions for us. It is necessary and sufficient – for something so valuable it needs to be an integral part of our daily lives, studying it, memorizing it, meditating on it, sharing it. Highly recommended read!

Quotes:“Psalm 119 shows us what to believe about the word of God, what to feel about the word of God, and what to do with the word of God.”“Psalm 119 is the explosion of praise made possible by an orthodox and evangelical doctrine of Scripture.”“The goal of this book is to get us believing what we should about the Bible, feeling what we should about the Bible, and to get us doing what we ought to do with the Bible.”“May God give us ears, for we all need to hear the word of God more than God needs any of us to defend it.”“The goal of revelation is not information only, but affection, worship, and obedience.”“The word of God is more than enough for the people of God to live their lives to the glory of God.”“God’s word is final. God’s word is understandable. God’s word is necessary. God’s word is enough.”“It gives us something the Internet, with all its terabytes of information, never could: wisdom.”“The purpose of Holy Scripture is not ultimately to make you smart, or make you relevant, or make you rich, or get you a job, or get you married, or take all your problems away, or tell you where to live. The aim is that you might be wise enough to put your faith in Christ and be saved.”“You and I simply will not mature as quickly, minster as effectively, or live as gloriously without immersing ourselves in the Scriptures.”“Sticking with the Scriptures may seem like a light thing now, but we will feel the weight of it someday. There will come a time when it will be shown whether our lives were founded upon trivialities or realities.”

*I received a copy of this book free from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for my review.